Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a medical instrument housing container that holds medical instruments such as medical devices and pharmaceutical products and is sterilized.
Background Art
Medical instruments including medical devices such as prefilled syringes with syringe barrels prefilled with a drug and prefillable syringes therefor, syringes, needles, blood collection bags, blood collection instruments, and catheters, and pharmaceutical products such as vial bottles are contained and sterilized in medical instrument containers, aseptically packaged, and opened for use in medical facilities.
Taking prefilled syringes as an example, first, in a manufacturing factory of prefillable syringes, prefillable syringes are contained in substantially rectangular parallelepipedic, disposable containers that are made of resin and suitable for transport and storage. The containers are then sealed by a protection film via a layer of adhesive, sterilized, and transported to a factory where the syringe barrels are to be filled with a drug. In the latter factory, the prefillable syringes are taken out of the containers, filled with the drug, and then a plunger is inserted into the syringes to make prefilled syringes. The prefilled syringes thus produced are enclosed in sterile packaging bags and transported to users such as doctors.
As an example of such a housing container used for transporting medical instruments that require sterilization, JP 2004-513707 W describes a multipurpose package including a plastic tub and a cover fixed to the tub so as to seal the tub with an impervious sealing zone. The multipurpose package can be used to accommodate sterile products or products intended to be sterilized.
For such a housing container, it is necessary that the sealed and sterile conditions inside the container holding medical instruments are maintained all the way through distribution and storage. However, the housing container, which is typically a substantially rectangular parallelepipedic casing, is subject to substantial profile change as a result of application of stresses which it cannot withstand, in the form of vibration, impacts due to a fall or a collision, external pressure, and the like during packing, transport, or storage. Especially, the edge of an opening covered with a protection film at the top of the container is most likely to deform due to concentration thereto of stresses such as vibration, impacts, external pressure, or the like. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5(c), for example, due to the straightness of peripheral edges as individual sides of the substantially rectangular opening, when an external stress F1 is applied to a paired, parallel, and opposing peripheral edges 55a, 55c of a housing container 50, peripheral edges 55b, 55d therebetween are pushed outwardly. As is shown by the two-dot dashed lines, when the peripheral edges 55b, 55d are deformed outwardly, a protection film 31 can be forcefully pulled outwardly and eventually be detached as it is unable to follow the deformation. Thus, even if the protection film 31 has securely sealed the opening, the protection film 31 can be detached as it is unable to follow the deformation of the peripheral edges 55b, 55d of the housing container 50, and consequently, the container is unable to maintain the sealed condition thereof.
There is a desire for a medical instrument housing container that can prevent detachment of a protection film due to stresses such as vibration, impacts, external pressure, and the like during packing, transport, or storage, so that the sealed and sterile conditions thereof are maintained.